


A Different Kind of Cold

by handyhunter



Category: Kate Shugak Series, Whiteout
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-17
Updated: 2010-02-17
Packaged: 2017-10-07 08:20:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/63212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/handyhunter/pseuds/handyhunter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kate is a PI who lives in Alaska. Carrie is a US Marshall who has a love/hate relationship with the Ice in Antarctica. They meet when Carrie travels to Kate's hometown to investigate a murder.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Different Kind of Cold

Niniltna, Alaska, was a different kind of cold. Maybe even a friendly one if such a thing were possible. Unlike Antarctica, you could find villages and towns in the middle of all this ice. This was ice that melted, though, and this time, a body fell out of a slowly moving glacier and Carrie Stetko was once again pulled out of her very warm vacation early to investigate. All her investigating led her to Bernie's Roadhouse, which looked like a lively joint, even at ten in the morning.

"Is there a Kate Shugak here?" she asked the bartender. He glanced over at a dark-haired woman sitting alone, nursing a drink.

"Thanks, Bernie," said Kate dryly.

"I didn't say anything," he said.

"I'll have what she's having," said Carrie, figuring they might as well get off on the right foot.

"Sure." Bernie reached under the bar, brought out a glass and a can of 7-Up. He popped it open for her and set it down on a coaster. Carrie took a seat next to Kate.

"I'm not interested," said Kate. It was a decidedly unfriendly smile.

Carrie had seen worse. "My name's Carrie Stetko, I'm a US Marshall. I'm here about--"

"We have our very own state trooper, you know. I can give you directions to his--"

"Actually, he sent me here," Carrie interrupted, and drank some of her soda.

"Did he now." Kate's unfriendly smile went flat. "Why?"

"Said if I needed a guide, you were the best one around." Carrie knew the ice, but Alaska was different. Venturing into the unknown unprepared got people killed.

Kate fixed an assessing eye in her direction. It was only then that Carrie noticed a thin scar that bisected her throat, half-hidden by the collar of her flannel shirt.

"Four-fifty a day," said Kate.

"Jim Chopin said it was four hundred." Carrie relaxed a little. The higher ups were going to choke on her expense report, which she was very much all right with.

"Inflation." Kate poured herself a little more 7-Up.

"Can't argue with that." Carrie held out her hand with the missing fingers for Kate to shake, which, to Kate's credit, didn't phase her. A cold, wet nose nudged Carrie's other hand, which she held very still as she looked down into the unblinking yellow eyes of a goddamn wolf. The wolf evidently decided not to eat her because it trotted around to her other side and sat down between her and Kate.

"That's Mutt. She's with me." Kate grinned.

Oh, yes. This was definitely a different kind of cold.


End file.
